Mauritia flexuosa palm swamps: Composition, structure and implications for conservation and management

• Mauritia flexuosa forests are more structurally complex and diverse than previously thought.
• Resource extraction is concentrated on the most abundant overstory species.
• Lack of understanding the ecology of palm swamps hinders best management practices.

Swamp forests dominated by the dioecious palm, Mauritia flexuosa, cover vast areas of the Amazon Basin and are poorly studied despite their recognized ecological and economic importance. This knowledge gap confounds current conservation and management efforts. In this study, we documented overstory structure and composition of M. flexuosa palm swamps (aguajales) as part of a broader effort to understand their ecology and assist in developing best practices for multi-use management for the Maijuna, an indigenous group in Loreto, Peru. In 12 aguajales, we sampled all trees > 5 cm DBH and all palm individuals ⩾0.5 m in height and grouped species based on their economic, subsistence, and cultural importance. Results indicated that aguajales are more diverse and structurally complex than previous general descriptions suggest: though dicots were twice as abundant as palms (p < 0.001), palms were taller and larger (p < 0.001) and thus still accounted for nearly half of stand basal area. The most abundant species provide numerous timber and non-timber forest products, with over half of individuals having a Maijuna-recognized use. As a result of their complexity and usefulness, aguajales are under more stress than previously thought, as most previous work has focused solely on the destructive harvest of M. flexuosa. Aguajales are clearly ecologically, economically, and culturally important ecosystems, and their conservation and management will require the prioritization and balancing of the numerous demands by both wildlife and people. To accomplish this, a better understanding of their composition and ecological interactions is needed.